Blink-182, My Chemical Romance rock Anaheim

During a few moments of Blink-182's headlining set at Anaheim's Honda Center Saturday night, it felt a tad unbelievable to be watching the same trio that helped spearhead the punk-pop scene in the '90s.

Not that it's so unexpected for Travis Barker, Mark Hoppus (pictured) and Tom DeLonge to reunite after a mere four-year hiatus and put out another album (Neighborhoods, the group's first release in eight years, dropped Tuesday). Blink, after all, remains by far the most successful and influential of the trio's various projects; Box Car Racer, +44, Transplants, Angels & Airwaves and Barker's collaboration with the late DJ AM (aka TRV$DJAM) were all fads by comparison.

Yet my disbelief this night stemmed from the nostalgic notion that Blink itself -- so revered by teen masses a decade or more ago for its crude, pop-parodic style that only occasionally leaned toward the serious or emotive - was nonetheless a cultural craze that seems out of place in 2011. If you've been to Warped Tour lately, you know what I'm talking about: there are scores of bands with roots going back to Blink, but now everyone's throwing in layers of synth and electro beats, all with a non-jesting, emo-heavy attitude.

About halfway through Saturday's set, however, I began to realize how wrong that assessment was.

At that point the show had been comprised mostly of new cuts and material from its eponymous 2003 album, which marked a distinct shift in style, largely incorporating many of those same Warped-typical elements that have become standard now. All around me, a new generation of kids in oversize T-shirts was completely smitten, singing along in impassioned earnest to "Feeling This," "I Miss You" and the band's current single "Up All Night."

No more was this the immature band from those hilarious Enema of the State music videos. This was a Blink that seemed to have finally transcended that mode -- a revamped version tailored for another era of fans.

That's not to say they completely cut out the annoying, foul-mouthed crap. Sure, they garnered a few laughs (mixed in with some scoffs) for silly shorts like "F*** a Dog," "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" and "When You F***ed Grandpa," but those spaces would've been better filled by more music. Seriously, dudes, comedy was never your strong suit, which Hoppus thankfully seems to have realized -- he intermittently commanded DeLonge to "back away" from the mic between songs.

Though "What's My Age Again?" and "Dumpweed" showed up early on, the show's second half largely ensured that old-school attendees got their fix, too: "All the Small Things," "Josie" and (for the encore) "Carousel" and "Dammit" certainly sparked large patches of 20-somethings-and-up reliving the glory days in swirling circle pits. Still, looking around, those people were in the minority. Younger fans willingly rocked out to the old hits as well, but few had the words on their lips, whereas nearly everyone belted it out for "Stay Together for the Kids," "Man Overboard" and (more surprisingly) even a new non-hit, "Ghost on the Dancefloor."

The show's highlight, though -- a spectacular moment all age groups could appreciate -- was Barker's signature drum solo to kick off the encore. In the past, he's been strapped to a chair like an astronaut, his kit bolted to a steel platform that rises above the audience and rotates upside-down, sideways, every which way, while he annihilates fill-after-fill with awesome precision. Saturday's edition of the stunt was similar, though Barker never fully flipped upside-down as he blasted along to hip-hop-laced mixes that evoked his DJ AM days.

At the end of it all, I had to ask myself: with all the changes they've made to their style and image, could I still consider myself a fan of this band?

Neighborhoods admittedly has more solid rock hooks and intricate fretwork (props to DeLonge) than any of their previous albums, a musical progression that translated into a far more engaging concert experience for this 10th anniversary Honda Civic Tour. I'm not sure that convinces me to remain a Blink acolyte, but no matter: nostalgic admirers like me are the waning minority. If these guys continue to craft more experimental tunes with increasingly contemporary elements, Blink's new army of loyal kids may still love them for another 20 years.

My Chemical Romance, the evening's other headliner (after an opening turn from Matt & Kim), proved its influence and popularity may be just as far-reaching (if not more so) than Blink's.

From the get-go, fire-red-haired vocalist Gerard Way had the audience in a frenzy: more voices rang out for the set's openers, "Na Na Na" and "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" than for the bulk of what followed, while writhing crowd-surfers littered the crowd's top.

"Apparently this is how they do it in California!" Way shrieked, drawing the evening's loudest cheers.

The reason for such a wild fan response may lie in MCR's focus on not just musical trends (they incorporated synth and spacey guitar licks long before Blink) but also current cultural events. The band's inception in 2001 was largely a response to the September 11 World Trade Center attacks, and since then they've delved into concepts surrounding global war and social unrest.

"This song is about nuclear war, love and guns -- only one of those things doesn't kill people," Way proclaimed just before launching into the heavy-hitter "Mama."

When these topics first became prevalent in music in the '60s, it was blues- and pyschedelia-tinged rockers like Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and the Beatles that led the conversation. Watching tens of thousands of fans raise their fists and sing wholeheartedly along with the melodic set-closer "Cancer" -- performed soulfully by just Way, backed by a simple keyboard line -- reminded that the voices of change have been imbued in a new group of trendy musicians, with My Chemical Romance among the front ranks.

Blink: Feeling This / Up All Night / The Rock Show / What's My Age Again? / Down / I Miss You / Stay Together for the Kids / Dumpweed / Always / Violence / After Midnight / First Date / F*** a Dog / Heart's All Gone / Happy Holidays, You Bastard / Man Overboard / Ghost on the Dancefloor / All the Small Things / When You F***ed Grandpa / Josie

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